Drie portretmedaillons 1751 - 1816

This print, "Drie portretmedaillons," was made by Reinier Vinkeles, probably in the late 18th century. It’s an etching, meaning that Vinkeles would have coated a metal plate with wax, drawn an image into the wax with a sharp needle, and then bathed the plate in acid. The acid bites into the metal where the wax has been removed, leaving an image in delicate relief. The portraits here are of Dutch literary figures: the playwright Joost van den Vondel, the poet Pieter Corneliszoon Hooft, and the poet Frederik de Klerk. All three are rendered in meticulous detail, a testament to Vinkeles's skill and the precision afforded by the etching process. Note how the controlled, deliberate marks of the etching needle allowed Vinkeles to capture the likenesses. Prints like this one were relatively inexpensive, so these images helped to democratize art and culture, helping to cement these three writers' reputations in the process. Vinkeles had to be a highly skilled craftsman to make this, and the fact that it is a print means that many copies could be made. This challenges the distinction between fine art and craft, and the idea of the unique art object.